Colonial use of ‘black’ did not necessarily denote African descent

Evidence

In her article, Reed assumes that Estebanico is Black, but we cannot know for sure. As others have noted, he was referred to as a moor— which could be a dark-skinned Arab or a Black man—by his enslavers. As a North African, his race is unsettled and cannot be assumed to be Black in the sense of our modern American usage. It should be noted that colonial authorities across the colonized world referred to several different colonized groups as “black” which does not necessarily suggest they were Africans. In the context of India, Indians were described as such. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 124

Categorization

• DEFINE: Key definitional point for her racecraft argument: the term ‘black’ is unstable and context-dependent, undermining modern assumptions about historic racial categories.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 124
• XREF: connects to: Europeans already possessed race as a ready concept before enslaving Africans — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 56; Early colonial servitude did not initially distinguish European, African, and Indigenous laborers — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project: A New American Origin…, 205; Colonial race was judged by conduct and affiliation rather than appearance (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• Colonial race was judged by conduct and affiliation rather than appearance #corroborates (0.85)
• Early colonial servitude did not initially distinguish European, African, and Indigenous laborers #corroborates (0.80) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 205
• Colonial administrators struggled to fix race terminology to specific social kinds #corroborates (0.80) — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 344
• Racial categories in colonial petitions were unstable and contested #corroborates (0.80) — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 518
• Colonial racial categories were shuffled across visual and verbal criteria #corroborates (0.80) — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 228
• The category of the Negro was fabricated in the West, not Africa #corroborates (0.75)
• Colonial administrators were certain about racial character but uncertain how to name the population #contradicts (0.75)
• Race versus ethnicity is a colonial legal construction #expands (0.75)
• Slavery does not necessarily entail racial categories #expands (0.75)
• Racial discourse is a consequence, not a cause, of colonial thought #corroborates (0.75) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 401
• Inconsistencies in colonial racial categories reveal latent distinctions rather than errors #corroborates (0.75)
• Colonial policy disputes centered on how race should be assessed, not what race is #corroborates (0.75)